Question 1

Hmmm, the description of this item clearly states that it has 4 USB 3.0 ports, and that it has an external power supply. And the pictures show all the ports are blue (indicating 3.0).

Yet some of the reviews claim that there is one 3.0 port and three 2.0 ports. And some reviews say there is no external power.

Well which is it?

Accepted Answer

Since I have it (the Tek Republic TUH-3400) sitting right in front of me, I suppose this should be easy :)

As you can see in the primary image, one side has a USB type A plug, fro the upstream connection. The circle immediately to the left is a red power indicator LED (which I've covered up with tape because it is very bright), and the other circle, to the right is the port for the power plug. So, yes there is power, for those power-hungry devices that need the amperage.

Other than the upstream plug, there are four other plugs, all USB 3.0, and marked in the standard blue. If you start rotating around the unit counter-clockwise from the upstream, the first side and front each have one port, and the last side has two - 4 total downstream. They are a tiny bit on the cramped side, but not bad and not USB 2.0... I've plugged my USB 3.0 external drives in and gotten full speed through all of them. My only complaint is not with speed, just that the power LED, and the top logo are quite bright red.

***The reason that I think there is confusion amongst reviews is that Tek Rupublic makes multiple variants on this product and the reviews aren't segregated by model # yet:
-TUH-200; has 1 x USB 3.0 + 3 x USB 2.0, no power
-TUH-300; has  4 x USB 3.0, no power
-TUH-2700; has 7 x USB 2.0, with power adapter
And this last one is the model under which your question is posted--TUH-3400; has 4 x USB 3.0, with power adapter

Hope that helps!

Question 2

Hi.  Will this "up-convert" your computer's USB ?  In other words, if my computer only has USB 2.0 or USB 1.1, will this still do USB 3.0 speeds as long as the device I plug into it (say for example an external hard drive) is a USB 3.0 external hard drive ?   (My computer does NOT have a USB 3.0 socket, but I have an external hard drive that is 3.0, and also have a couple of USB stick drives that are also 3.0, but because my computer only has one USB 2.0 socket (and the rest USB 1.1 sockets) I don't get the advantage of the USB 3.0 abilities of my external hard drive and USB stick drives).  So, will this up-convert my computer's USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 to USB 3.0 for my USB 3.0 external hard drive and USB stick drives ?  Thank you for your help !

Accepted Answer

This hub will not increase the speed of your computer's USB ports.  It will work with USB 2.0 ports and USB 3.0 devices can be connected, but the speed of the devices will be limited to the computer's port speed (USB 2.0).

Computers with USB 3.0 ports allow transfers up to 10x faster than USB 2.0.  The only way to get USB 3.0 speeds is to either purchase a computer with USB 3.0 built-in or add a USB 3.0 expansion card (which may not be possible in older systems).

Question 3

Can this product be used safely with a 220v outlet?  Thanks for any help.

Accepted Answer

According to the sticker on the power adapter "input: 100–240VAC". My guess is yes, you can. But still, you probably still need to find an adapter for the jack ,cuz all the 220v wall jack I seen have different shape of the holes than regular 110v.

Question 4

I would like to use this to fast charge two samsung phones with micro USB 3.  Will it work well?

Accepted Answer

It will only charge as fast as it maximum current will allow.  Subtract one of the phone's milliamp rating from 3000 ma (3 amps).  Then you will know how many milliamps are left for the the second phone to use.

The other thing you need is an appropriate charging cable for each phone.

The alternative would be a battery pack with a five volt outputs and enough milliamps to charge both phones plus 10% extra for system losses.  NewEgg had a bunch of then the last time I looked.

My use is to split may laptops one USB3 port to use three USB3 peripherals.  I use a wallwart  with 4 USB2 ports with 6 amps output.  charging doesn't care about what version of USB feeds it, only the number of milliamps available.

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